About the SAP

The Cambria Green Specific Area Plan and Masterplan is one of the largest planning scheme amendments and tourism developments ever proposed for the East Coast of Tasmania.

The Cambria Green zoning amendments and development have the potential to change forever the social, cultural and environmental characteristics of the entire East Coast, not just Swansea, Dolphin Sands and Cambria.

The East Coast Alliance is committed to protecting the values that make Tasmania such a special place to live and visit.

The extent of the Cambria Green amendment proposal and its proximity to Swansea, Cambria and Dolphin Sands. Commissioned by Sophie Underwood.

Why STOP THE SAP?

If approved by the Tasmanian Planning Commission, and provided the developers work within the new SAP rezoning, the Glamorgan Spring Bay Council will have LIMITED RIGHT OF REFUSAL to any development application (DA). Remember – the Masterplan Concept currently grabbing all the headlines is just that – a concept. No DA has been submitted. The developers have NO obligation to implement the concept Masterplan.

What’s happened so far?

  • The Cambria Estate Draft Amendment AM 2018-03 (Specific Area Plan and other amendments) was initiated by Glamorgan Spring Bay Council (GSBC) on 24 April 2018.

  • At this meeting, the Council could have voted “NO” to the proposed Draft Amendment. Click here for a useful diagram outlining the approval process for amendment of planning schemes (Part 3, Land Use Planning and Approvals Act 1993).

  • Submissions to Council closed on 14 June. A total of 623 submissions were received by Glamorgan Spring Bay Council, around 98% of these were AGAINST the Cambria Draft Amendment, and many of these were detailed, informed representations from individuals and significant state and national organisations.

  • The GSBC planning department processed and evaluated all submissions to prepare a Section 39 Report. Council was granted two extensions to complete the Report (to 30 November 2018).

  • The Section 39 Report was presented to Councillors at the 27 November 2018 meeting for consideration and voting. The Draft Amendment was approved 4 to 3. Watch a live recording of the meeting here (Cambria starts at 44 minutes).

  • The Section 39 Report and all submissions were forwarded to the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) and are available for public viewing on the Tasmanian Planning Commission website.

  • The final decision on the Cambria Draft Amendment is the responsibility of the Tasmanian Planning Commission, not the Glamorgan Spring Bay Council.

DIRECTIONS HEARING

  • A public Directions Hearing was held by the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) on Friday 14 December at the Swansea Town Hall to assess the key issues, set process and determine what needs to be done for the final hearing. The panel of three Commissioners acknowledged the significant number of concerns and issues about the Cambria Draft Amendment raised by representors in their submissions and identified the following as relevant for their consideration and assessment:

    • agricultural land rezoning

    • conflicts with the State Coastal Policy (for example, the proposed golf course)

    • conflicts with the Southern Tasmanian Regional Land Use Strategy through a new settlement and activity centres outside Swansea

    • inadequately addressed heritage conservation plan for the historic Cambria homestead, garden and surrounding landscape

    • environmental concerns

    • roads and transport (lack of detail and the use of traffic data dating from 2012 prevented State Roads from providing an adequate response)

    • water and irrigation

    • lack of clarity re potential for subdivision and residential development

  • Other issues raised and acknowledged as legitimate concerns by the Commission included ground water; the airstrip; jurisdiction around the property purchase and company documents. The potential social and economic impacts of the proposed development were cited as a key concern.

    The Commission panel noted the current lack of detail from the proponents meant many concerns relating directly to the potential development could not be adequately assessed.

  • The Commission panel gave the Cambria Green applicants (proponents) until 1 February 2019 to to file a response to the Glamorgan Spring Bay Council’s Section 39 Report, the 600-plus submissions received by Council, and to provide other proof of evidence and expert reports on a range of issues of concern to the TPC.

next steps

  • Following ongoing requests from the proponents for extensions over a number of months (granted), the TPC panel directed the proponents to provide missing jurisdictional information relating to titles and landowner consents by Friday 29 March. The Commission Panel stated it initially intended to assess ONLY these and any other jurisdictional issues.

  • Subsequent to communication between the TPC, the proponents and individuals concerned about the legality of the Cambria rezoning application, a public hearing on jurisdictional issues only was held on Friday 30 August 2019 in Hobart. Read here the relevant correspondence from the TPC Panel.

jurisdictional HEARING

  • At the jurisdictional hearing on 30 August, the proponent’s lawyer Shaun McElwaine SC presented Cambria Green representative Mr Ronald Hu as his sole witness.

  • A number of individuals and the Tasmanian Greens cross-examined Mr Hu. The Environmental Defenders Office and ERA Planning attended the hearing on behalf of the East Coast Alliance.

  • Click here for media coverage.

  • The TPC panel gave a deadline of 20 September for both parties to present closing submissions.

  • The Environmental Defenders Office provided a closing response on behalf of the ECA - click here to read the East Coast Alliance submission.

On Friday 22 November 2019 the Tasmanian Planning Commission published a decision stating it had no jurisdiction to hear the Cambria Draft Amendment. Click here to read the TPC letter to representors and here for the Commission’s full decision.

The decision was made because the Commission was not satisfied on the evidence that the landowners had properly given consent to the rezoning request. It means the draft planning scheme amendment to allow for the Cambria Green development was invalid, and the amendment would not continue to be heard by the Commission.

Supreme Court appeal

Following this momentous decision of the Tasmanian Planning Commission in November 2019 that it had no jurisdiction to hear the Cambria Draft Amendment, Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Management Pty Ltd applied for a judicial review in the Supreme Court.

As part of the Appeal process, a second mention hearing took place on Monday 16 March in the Tasmanian Supreme Court in Hobart before the Honourable Chief Justice Blow. The Attorney-General was approved as the party representing the Tasmanian Planning Commission. A further 28 days was granted for various matters, including the provision, by Cambria Green, of all relevant documents to the court.

SUPREME COURT APPEAL decision

On 3 December 2020, the Tasmanian Supreme Court brought down a judgement to overturn the 22 November 2019 decision of the Tasmanian Planning Commission that the Commission did not have jurisdiction to hear the planning scheme amendment to facilitate the Cambria development.

Justice Estcourt made it clear the Tasmanian Planning Commission did not commit an error in law with its initial finding as the decision was made without the relevant jurisdictional facts being presented by Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Management Pty Ltd. This further evidence regarding land owner consent was presented at the Supreme Court hearing on 3 December.

Given the delay by the applicants (Cambria Green) in providing proof of evidence, Justice Estcourt ordered the applicants to pay the costs of the appeal. The proponents appealed this decision and won (ie no costs paid by Cambria despite failing to provide proof of evidence in the original court hearing).

The full judgement can be read here.

Cambria assessment process returns to the TPC

The Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) held a Directions Hearing for the Cambria Estate Draft Amendment on Tuesday 2 March 2021, in Hobart. This was the first step in the process of Cambria Green returning to the TPC to be assessed on planning merits.

At the Directions Hearing the TPC panel set guidelines and procedures for the main hearing(s) - read the TPC Directions letter in full here, and read here for information re providing expert evidence.

The TPC listed a significant number of issues requiring further information from the proponent including: Concept Masterplan; agricultural potential of the land; water access, usage, impacts and waste water management; updated economic assessment; airstrip use and capacity; palliative care services; impact of the golf course construction and maintenance on natural values; impacts on the Ramsar Wetland Moulting Lagoon; bushfire risk; and impacts of proposed construction on/adjacent to Nine Mile Beach on natural values and the Dolphin Sands aquifer.

Given the significant information required, the proponents requested and were granted, a long deadline extension into November 2021 for delivery of the above additional information to the TPC - read the TPC letter here outlining these new deadlines.

STATUS at 24 MARCH 2023

On 9 June 2022, the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) finally commenced public hearings into the planning merits of the Cambria Green rezoning and proposed development.

This is what happened up to 1 July:
1. Over the first 13 days of hearings, the Commission heard arguments from all main parties and their expert witnesses: East Coast Alliance represented by ERA Planning and Environment; planner and lawyers for Stahmann Webster (East Coast agribusiness, also arguing against Cambria); the Cambria Green planners and lawyers; Council; and individual representors.
2. The ECA's five expert witnesses - agricultural consultant (shared with Stahmann Webster), natural values (environmental) expert, hydrologist, heritage consultant and an expert focused on economic/tourism cost benefit analysis - all appeared and presented professionally and with impact. We thank them for their critically important contributions.

On Friday 1 July the TPC Panel gave permission for the Cambria Green proponents to submit a modified Draft Amendment (SAP) for consideration at hearings on 15 and 22 July - a modified Draft Amendment was submitted on 22 July - read here. The Commission directed all parties to respond by 31 August.

Closing submission hearings into the Cambria Green Draft Amendment were heard by the Tasmanian Planning Commission on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 March.

Read here the East Coast Alliance closing submission, prepared on our behalf by our planners, ERA Planning and Environment.

The 4 possible outcomes from the TPC decision were:
1. The TPC can refuse the Cambria Specific Area Plan (Draft Amendment).
2. The TPC can decide to approve the Cambria Specific Area Plan (Draft Amendment) as originally initiated by Council.
3. The TPC can approve the Draft Amendment with modifications (in this case, these would generally be minor modifications).
4. The TPC can approve the Draft Amendment with substantial modifications. This would require a new public exhibition period. Should this be the outcome, Council does not need to re-certify the amendment (ie vote on the proposal), only place it on public exhibition and review new representations.

BREAKING NEWS 3pm 16 October 2023

The Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) today brought down a decision to reject the Cambria Draft Amendment (Cambria Estate Draft Amendment AM 2018-03, Specific Area Plan and other amendments) proposed to facilitate a large-scale tourism-based development on more than 3,100 hectares outside Swansea village on Tasmania’s East Coast.

“The East Coast Alliance welcomes this decision by the independent Tasmanian Planning Commission,” said Anne Held, President of the East Coast Alliance (ECA). “The planning amendment was lodged with Glamorgan Spring Bay Council by Cambria Green Agriculture and Tourism Management Pty Ltd over five years ago, in April 2018.”

As stated in the TPC decision:

The full decision can be found here.

470. In summary, the Commission finds that the draft amendment:

·       is not in accordance with section 32(4)(a) or (b);

·       does not further objectives set out in Schedule 1;

·       is not consistent with the relevant parts of the State Policy on the Protection of Agricultural Land 2009, the State Coastal Policy 1996 and the State Policy on Water Quality Management 1997;

·       is not, as far as practicable, consistent with the Southern Tasmania Regional Land Use Strategy 2010-2035.

471. The Commission rejects the draft amendment.

472. Having considered the alternative draft amendment, the reasons for rejecting the draft amendment apply equally to consideration of the alternative draft amendment. While lessening the impacts of the uses and potential developments that were proposed, the Commission is not satisfied that the alternative draft amendment addresses the fundamental zoning considerations or meets the criteria for the establishment of a SAP.

What happenEd next?

The proponents were given 28 days to appeal and apply for a judicial review in the Supreme Court. Any appeal could only be based on an error of law, not on planning merits.

The proponents chose not to appeal.

If an appeal was allowed by the Court, and the TPC’s decision overturned, the Draft Amendment would have been remitted back to the TPC for assessment by a differently constituted panel.

If an appeal was not accepted by the Supreme Court, the proponent may have considered an appeal to the full bench of the Supreme Court or wait two years before being able to lodge another application for a planning scheme amendment on the land. This would have to be substantially different to the initial application.

About the ECA

The East Coast Alliance was formed by a small group of community volunteers concerned about the potential impacts of the Cambria Green Specific Area Plan and Masterplan.  The ECA is not opposed to, and supports, appropriate, reasonable and sustainable development.

The East Coast Alliance Executive Committee members are Anne Held (President), Alcuin Hacker (Vice President), Jennie Churchill (Secretary/Public Officer), Ellen France ( Treasurer), Mitty Williams (Committee Member), Maureen Stevenson (Committee Member), Steve Barrett (Committee Member).

Partnerships

We welcome and value strong partnerships. The ECA works with other statewide groups and organisations focused on protecting the unique characteristics of East Coast Tasmanian communities. Please contact us at ecatassie@gmail.com should you or your organisation wish to become involved.